The Pains of Being Pure at Heart have long set the benchmark for big-hearted, idealistic pop
songs. On their forthcoming self-released LP, they push beyond their many inspirations and
embrace their role as indie-pop heroes in their own right. Showcasing the deft, poetic
songwriting of front-man Kip Berman, The Pains’ fourth album is their most confident and
accomplished. After three critically-acclaimed records, 2009’s The Pains of Being Pure at Heart ,
2011’s Belong and 2014’s Days of Abandon received praise from The New York Times, Pitchfork,
The Guardian and Rolling Stone , they have put together a collection of songs that possess a
timeless grandeur, deeper and more satisfying than anything the band has done since their now
iconic debut.
From their earliest days of C86-worship to Alternative Nation-sized anthems to a matured,
“Simple and Sure” pop refinement, the new music is what Berman describes as sounding
“heavy and hopeful, like love.It’s an album that reflects the band’s most joyous moments while
maintaining Berman’s candid and critical lyricism, free of the self-abasing insecurity of youth.
“The album is loving. The music is heavier, more expansive,” he says. “To me, songs about love
shouldn’t be thought of as light. Love is big - sometimes it’s emphatic, overwhelming or simple -
other times it’s tense, anxious or just exhausting. But at its best, it makes you want to be
something better.”
In their decade long career, Berman has stood at the center of The Pains of Being Pure at Heart,
and with a changing lineup, it’s become more apparent. “On [the last album] Days of Abandon, I
was on my own. There was no one in the room making decisions with me. It felt strange
experiencing that isolation while trying to make sense of it through writing,” Berman admits.
That album was about loss, and I think it conveyed that feeling well – but I’m glad to move on
from that place. On this new collection of songs he’s learned to take full agency of something
he’s always owned. “With this record, I’ve made peace with the fact I am Pains. It’s always been
my band, but I haven’t been super comfortable saying that, partly because I’ve enjoyed working
with so many talented friends, and also because the songs I wrote seemed to mean more than
anything my actual life could live up to.
Berman enlisted the help of Days of Abandon producer Andy Savours (My Bloody Valentine,
The Killers) to help him record a Pains record like none-other. “The logistics of it were so
different. When I recorded the record, my wife was six months pregnant. We only had a limited
amount of time. There was an absolute uncertainty hanging over our heads, but it was also a
kind of escape from worry for that time.” He explains. “What’s going to happen when I have a
kid? Am I going to be able to go on tour? Is this the last record I’m going to get to make? It’s not
a bad thing to be worried when you’re expecting this huge transition of life. If you didn’t feel
scared, you’re probably not feeling the right emotion. I tried to make the best record I could,
knowing it might be the last time.”
The Pains and their new album navigate and call attention to variability and safety without
unraveling. Berman is no stranger to fragility; here, it’s structured with warmth, the kind found
after life-altering moments.
The music is augmented by guest vocals from previous Pains collaborators: Jen Goma on vocals
(A Sunny Day in Glasgow), bass guitar by Jacob Danish Sloan (Dream Diary), and horns by Kelly
Pratt (Beirut, David Byrne, St. Vincent). The Pains of Being Pure at Heart live band consists of
long-time guitarist Christoph Hochheim (Ablebody, ex-Depreciation Guild), drummer Chris
Schackerman (ex-Mercury Girls, ex-Literature) and vocalist/keyboardist Jess Rojas. The band
will tour the UK in late May, returning to New York for Northside Festival in June with more
selective dates to be announced shortly.

BEVERLY began as a recording project between Drew Citron and Frankie Rose. Although Citron grew up in San Francisco and Rose spent many years there, it wasn’t until the two were living in Brooklyn that they started collaborating. In 2012, Rose found herself in need of a musician that could travel to SXSW on short notice, and Citron found herself in the right place at the right time. Since then, Citron has been a part of Rose’s touring band. During numerous tours, the two shared aspirations for making simple, clutter-free music. Beverly’s debut album Careers, out July 1st on Kanine Records, is a result of those ideas.

Conceived on the road, the songwriting and production reflects both Citron’s pop sensibility and Rose’s sharp ear for harmony and arrangement. In between tours, the two spent time at Dr. Wu’s, a studio in Brooklyn where Yale Yng-Wong engineered and mixed the majority the album. Careers combines raw pop, post-punk, and dreamy harmonies, drawing inspiration from lofi greats such as The Amps and The Clean.

To transport the songs out of the studio and to tour in support of the record, Citron will collaborate with additional musicians while Rose, treating Beverly as a side recording project only, will continue to maintain focus on her solo career. Live, Beverly is a four piece band that fills out the sound to create an energetic live show that the record demands. Citron will be joined by bandmates who have toured as members of Chairlift, Class Actress, Cat Power and Feathers.

ABLEBODY

Ablebody is an LA-based duo comprised of identical twins Christoph and Anton Hochheim (members of Pains Of Being Pure At Heart/Depreciation Guild). They’ve been quietly releasing music under this moniker since 2013, self-releasing an EP and 7″ single, crafting remixes and demoing original material as well as a myriad of covers.

Drawing from the raw grandeur of the 60’s, the melodicism of soft 70s pop and the sophisticated side of romantic 80s synth pop, Ablebody stand suspended between decades; students of the past but far from retro fetishists. Their musical prowess is evident but the songwriting remains tastefully direct at all times, with arrangements that bend and move in surprising ways but tastefully blanket the overarching sentiment of the songs in a way that we rarely hear in this decade.

The duo have recently taken their sound from the bedroom to the studio, working with Cole M. Grief-Neill (Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti, Nite Jewel, Julia Holter, The Samps) and Kenny Gilmore (Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti) to craft songs with a more visceral edge than they’ve explored in the past. Daniel Rosenbaum (Pomar) and Jordan Sabolick (Mt. Ossa) have joined the duo to help bring the songs to life and add new dimension to the live dynamic.